“You Had Me At Hello…”

So you’re introduction call was a success, obviously because your now sitting in your prospects office to go over the services you offer. You tell them about how great your organization is, why others love your services along with all the bells and whistles you have to offer. Things couldn’t be going any better, right?

You get towards the end of your meeting and before you can ask the prospect if they are ready to buy, they interrupt you and say: “You had me at hello”.

Yes, wouldn’t that be just great! Throw some Rainbows and Fairy dust in that scenario too because that is a sales person’s ultimate Fairy Tale come true!

For those of you not busting a gut and tears streaming down your face right now, look over to your left there’s a pink unicorn standing there also.

Building trust and rapport with prospects is the key rule and yet so hard for many sales professionals to accomplish in the short amount of time they have to do it in.

People buy from people they trust and you do that by helping your prospect, not selling a prospect. Trust is not built from being pushy, manipulative or with gimmicky approaches. To position yourself to be in a helping position, you need to stop selling and begin asking questions, listening and taking notes.

Only then can you truly understand what the needs and issues are for your prospect and how your services can and will HELP them in providing a solution. Stop having a solution before you call or meet with prospects – you don’t know what you’re solving yet.

BTW – if your services are NOT what the prospect needs, be honest about it and refer them to someone who is. You will have built trust with them immediately and setting the stage for possible future referrals from them as well as the company you referred them to.